


Welcome to Hell (kind of)

by babbley



Series: Charles Beckendorf and the Sword of the Sea [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Death, F/M, Funny, Hades - Freeform, Helen of Troy - Freeform, Heroes, M/M, Other, Triton - Freeform, Underworld, hell hound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 22:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14840114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babbley/pseuds/babbley
Summary: "Going up like fireworks on the fourth of July on a cruise ship full of monsters has got to be one of the best ways to die. Trust me, I did it. Sorry to get ahead of myself, my name is Charles Beckendorf. I’m staying in Elysium, a paradise for fallen heroes, after a really bad day during the second Titan war..."War is brewing in the world of the living, and it's up to an unlikely group to save the world. Join Charles Beckendorf, Nico DiAngelo, as Will Solace as they break rules that haven't even been written yet. Escaping Elysium can't be that hard after all, right?





	Welcome to Hell (kind of)

Going up like fireworks on the fourth of July on a cruise ship full of monsters has got to be one of the best ways to die. Trust me, I did it. Sorry to get ahead of myself, my name is Charles Beckendorf. I’m staying in Elysium, a paradise for fallen heroes, after a really bad day during the second Titan war. At first, I hated it here because even though it was paradise I missed my friends. Then they came to see me, and suddenly an eternity of loneliness didn’t seem so bad. After a terrifying pep talk from some other fallen heroes, I decided to throw myself into my work and make the best of a bad situation instead of moping around like a guilty man. That was when dying on a cruise ship full of monster didn’t seem so bad any more. You see, dead monsters leave behind spoils of war. That means I was technically entitled to every single spoil left behind by the explosion. My buddy Nico DiAngelo was able to pull some strings as a child of Hades, and boom! My private death-forge was a menagerie of magic. I had every material I’d ever need to start my biggest project yet. 

Now that you’ve been brought to speed, the real story can begin. I was making a sword for Percy Jackson. You probably know about him, saved Olympus and all that jazz. While I was alive he was one of my best friends. Even now that I’m dead I keep tabs on him. It’s not that hard to do. Percy has killed so many monsters that sometimes there are backups in the underworld. You can hear the support staff groaning and moaning more than usual after he has a raid. Plus, I have inside sources. 

So I knew that something was going on up there. Percy was a machine, and word spread fast of him attacking sea creatures. Children of gods usually leave monsters in that domain alone, so killing 700 basilisks in a week was basically unheard of down here. Some heroes said there was a war starting under the sea. I didn’t know if Percy was even aware. I was able to talk with old dead demigods about similar things in the past and from the sounds of it, Percy would have his hands full. Triton had stolen Posidean’s trident. I know what you’re saying, “Charles, this already happened! Percy got the lightning bolt when he was like, twelve. No big deal!” except trust me, this is a big deal. Quality of water impacts every person on earth. If there is a huge water-war, everyone loses. And not everyone gets to a good place like me. Pardon my language, but shit was getting real. 

The best place to start this story is in my bedroom. Let me say this: my room is fucking cool. It’s the size of a small apartment, with its own bathroom and kitchen. The walls are black, which I prefer for cleanliness reasons, and the floor is streaked silver and black marble tile. There’s a wall of weapons across from my king sized four poster bed, and a massive flat screen tv. I was in bed, staring up at my black ceiling, wondering if I could harness the floating orbs of fire in my chandelier for my forge. Also, I was butt naked. In the world of the dead, pants are a constricting societal standard you do not need to follow. Especially in the comfort of your own home. I was reaching up to touch it with both arms, kind of like a baby would with a mobile, and all of a sudden Nico DiAngelo was standing in my kitchen.  
The guy was making a kissy face.

“Will?” He looked around my room, clearly confused, “Where the hell am I?” He was wearing a beat-up black leather jacket on top of a faded black t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black leather boots. His shaggy black hair was tousled needed a trim to keep it out of his eyes. He looked fuller than he had while I was alive, being older suited him. His face was starting to fill out.  
“Uh, here?” I asked, surprised to see him in my bedroom. 

“Shit,” he checked his digital watch, “It’s been fifteen minutes!”

Nico looked at me like I was a moron, I was sitting in bed and pulling my covers to my chest, “I was shadow travelling around for fifteen minutes. No clue how I ended up here.”  
The next thing I did was kind of moronic. I stood up. Oops. Nico immediately covered his eyes and turned around, “Naked!” He warned me. 

I apologized and wrapped my blanket around my body like a toga, and gave him the all clear to turn around.

He shot me a death glare. “Do you realise I have to tell Will about this? We have a no secrets thing because he’s trying to align his chakras.” It was still weird to hear that the two were an item, while I was alive I never saw them in the same room. 

Shrugging I gave him a small smile, not wanting to upset the guy. “Tell him it was my bad, totally an accident.”

“Got it,” Nico huffed and closed his eyes. He was about to shadow travel again. 

“Not right now!” I grabbed his shoulder out of nowhere. I try to be a chill guy, but Nico is my number one connection to the living world. Any chance to see him matters. 

He removed my hand from his beat-up leather jacket and sighed. Nico was a sour jerk, but he was a friend, “what do you want?” 

“There are rumours that it's getting bad up there, what do you say?” I asked. 

Nico never kept eye contact with me, but this time it seemed intentional, “yes,” he said, “there’s going to be a war. Again. Triton this time.”

Nico told about other things too, Chiron’s bad back, some stuff between Hermes and Iris, but nothing kept my focus. I was thinking about the war up there, worrying for everyone at camp. Wondering if the basilisks Percy killed had anything to do with it. Nico was standing up to leave when all of a sudden a hell hound crashed into my kitchen. It was big, probably the size of a small dump truck. I’d never seen one like that before. Its black fur was matted, and it pressed against every surface of my small apartment. It completely knocked down my tv, and an axe was pressing into its butt. The dog looked at us like it was scowling. It howled. My ears were ringing. Nico shouted something, but I couldn’t hear him. Clutching my toga, I reached for a small knife on my bedside table and tried to poke the hound. It didn’t stop howling. It felt like an eternity since I had fought a monster, and wished I had a chance to warm up first. My aim was off and even though I looked as buff as I had in life, my arms felt weaker. 

I stabbed for the fifth time when Nico grabbed my hand and all of a sudden ringing turned into wooshing. Darkness was all around me. All of a sudden the wooshing stopped, and there was ground beneath my feet. Doubling over, I threw up. My stomach felt like I had been in Magic Bullet at full speed. Wiping my mouth I turned to see Nico, he was unfazed and looking around us, checking if the area was safe of hell hounds. He ignored my throwing up, which was nice, and spoke calmly. 

"Actually," he said slowly, "It's lucky I ran into you today. I've had a feeling my dad has been trying to keep things quiet for a while now," he gestured for me to come closer, away from the puke, "and the hell hound coming during our talk only confirmed it." I scratched my head, we hadn't even been talking about anything important. It was all pretty meaningless, except for the part about the war. Nico hadn't even gone into specifics, all he had done was say a few words. If that was enough to trigger this kind of reaction from Hades, it must have been a big fucking deal. I nodded. 

"You need eyes and ears?" I asked, a spark igniting in my chest. 

"I'll be back tomorrow night," he said, "Right now I'm going to get rid of the hell hound. I'll be back for you in a few minutes," and he shadow travelled off in an instant. 

Holy motherfucking hell, I thought as I stood in the empty field. There was no horizon and blue skies stretched out as far as I could see. It was like a big soccer field with grass as green as AstroTurf. Maybe it was AstroTurf, after all, not many living things called Elysium home. The place looked like a lush, isolated version of The Fields of Asphodel. I twiddled my thumbs. As a spy for Nico I would have to do some serious recon. My usual ways of hearing about up top wouldn't be enough, I would have to get in with some heroes who had more sway. Someone strong, smart, and who wouldn't mind talking to me. An old hero. There were a few I'd spoken to in the past, but only ever if we passed each other in the dining hall on days where I didn't want to cook (which was admittedly most days). I sat on the ground looked up at the sky. 

I was mid-worry when Nico popped in front of me. I stood up, "good to see you, man." 

"Don't say that so soon. Now c'mon, I'm taking you home," he grabbed my hand and the field dissolved into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't a very long first chapter, but I wanted to keep it easy and digestible. Let me know if you're interested in this premise. :) Thanks for reading!


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